The following disclosure relates to devices having multiple drawers, and has particular application to apparatus and methods for preventing more than one drawer from being opened in a multi-drawer device, such as a cabinet or the like.
Various types of multi-drawer devices are provided with mechanisms to prevent more than one drawer from opening at a time. However, many prior designs utilize highly complex components that take up excessive amounts of space.
In some forms, these complex mechanisms are located in the rear of the multi-drawer device between the drawers and the back wall of the housing. This type of design often causes the multi-drawer device to be longer than necessary, or the drawers to be shorter than would otherwise be allowable, because of the space taken up between the drawers and the back end of the multi-drawer device. Examples of such systems are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,874,755 and 5,605,388.
Other forms of locking mechanisms include multiple complex parts that take up excessive amounts of space between the sides of a drawer and one or more side walls of a multi-drawer device. Such designs can cause these multi-drawer devices to be wider than otherwise would be necessary, or conversely require that the drawers be narrower than would otherwise be allowed in the same size multi-drawer device. Examples of such side mounted locking devices include U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,404,929; 3,883,199; 3,888,558; 4,609,233; 4,637,667; 4,889,396; 4,925,257; 4,966,422; 5,040,858; 5,387,032; 5,599,077; 5,599,078; 5,634,701; and 5,671,985.
Such side mounted devices and rear mounted devices each suffer from having an excessive number of relatively complex pieces that interact with one another and often take up a lot of space in between the drawer and the housing of the multi-drawer device. While some of these designs may be perfectly adequate for some uses, they tend to require a multi-drawer device to be larger than would be otherwise be necessary or require that smaller drawers be utilized for the same size multi-drawer device.
The disclosed apparatus and methods avoid some of the disadvantages of prior devices and methods while affording additional structural and operating advantages.
One form of the disclosed multi-drawer device comprises a plurality of drawers supported in a housing and coupled to the housing with slide assemblies. A blocking device is included that is responsive to the movement of a first drawer toward a fully opened position to interfere with the slide assembly of a second drawer thereby preventing the second drawer from fully opening.
One form of the disclosed multi-drawer device comprises first and second drawers carried by a housing and moveable between a closed position disposed within the housing and an open position extending from the housing. A first slide assembly couples the first drawer to the housing and second slide assembly couples the second drawer to the housing. A ramp is associated with the first drawer and a follower is adapted to contact and slide along the ramp. A blocking device is couple to one of the ramp and the follower and is associated with the second slide assembly. The ramp, follower, and first blocking device all cooperate such that as a first drawer moves from the closed position toward the open position, the follower contacts and slides along the ramp, for moving the first blocking device into a locked position that interferes with the second slide assembly to prevent the second drawer from moving to the open position.
The disclosed multi-drawer device and locking mechanism comprises certain novel features and a combination of parts hereinafter fully described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, it being understood that various changes in the details may be made without departing from the spirit, or sacrificing any of the advantageous of the present disclosed multi-drawer device and locking mechanism.